Athanasios
Active Member
Re: ODST + Venom cross-over : ODSV
HAHAHAHAHA have you been watching Archer? xD (Holy sh!tsnacks, y'all.)
HAHAHAHAHA have you been watching Archer? xD (Holy sh!tsnacks, y'all.)
ODST Crossover: Venom and Carnage
- Thread starter Revenant1988
- Start date
-
- Tags
- halo
Solos blaster
Sr Member
Re: ODST + Venom cross-over : ODSV
Other than the tongue, it looks a lot like something someone 'might' do to their armor if they were going against an alien force and wanted to look more imposing, if even just a placebo effect for themselves lol. Or maybe Venom is playing "ODST":lol
Great work, love the finished product!
Other than the tongue, it looks a lot like something someone 'might' do to their armor if they were going against an alien force and wanted to look more imposing, if even just a placebo effect for themselves lol. Or maybe Venom is playing "ODST":lol
Great work, love the finished product!
The Ronin
Well-Known Member
Re: ODST + Venom cross-over : ODSV
More like a lot of friends who watch it, and they rub off on me.
More like a lot of friends who watch it, and they rub off on me.
Revenant1988
New Member
Re: ODST + Venom cross-over : ODSV
Thank you!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just walking around in it has added all the battle damage I could want, actually. I might "touch up" those areas with silver or something, but otherwise I rather like the clean sheen it has
Thank you! The tongue is detachable, and I didn't really wear it much during the con, however I will use it for some photos in a shoot or two when I get a chance.
Thanks!
Thanks! It came out great!
Thank you!
The UNSC needs all the help it can get
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Post Dragon Con Update time!
Hi all!
Well, Dragon Con has come and gone, and I had a great time. My suit was well received by spectators and got tons of "Wow! Can I get a pic Venom?!" for which I was happy to oblige where I could. It held together for the weekend overall and that included a couple of photo shoots, the parade, a costume contest and more flights of stairs than I care to admit. There is some wear and tear already, as I expected. This mostly occurred where parts would rub together while walking. I've now been home about a week from D*Con, and I've still got a ton of pictures to sift through to share here. I'm sad it's over already
Work has begun on my second suit, and for those who have been following along you already know, but for those who don't it will be done as Carnage! I've got about one month to finish this suit for a partner for Ohio Wizard World.
I'll update this thread to reflect both suits when I have more to share, but in the mean time thanks for reading and the love <3 !
Thank you!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just walking around in it has added all the battle damage I could want, actually. I might "touch up" those areas with silver or something, but otherwise I rather like the clean sheen it has
Thank you! The tongue is detachable, and I didn't really wear it much during the con, however I will use it for some photos in a shoot or two when I get a chance.
Thanks!
Thanks! It came out great!
Thank you!
The UNSC needs all the help it can get
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Post Dragon Con Update time!
Hi all!
Well, Dragon Con has come and gone, and I had a great time. My suit was well received by spectators and got tons of "Wow! Can I get a pic Venom?!" for which I was happy to oblige where I could. It held together for the weekend overall and that included a couple of photo shoots, the parade, a costume contest and more flights of stairs than I care to admit. There is some wear and tear already, as I expected. This mostly occurred where parts would rub together while walking. I've now been home about a week from D*Con, and I've still got a ton of pictures to sift through to share here. I'm sad it's over already
Work has begun on my second suit, and for those who have been following along you already know, but for those who don't it will be done as Carnage! I've got about one month to finish this suit for a partner for Ohio Wizard World.
I'll update this thread to reflect both suits when I have more to share, but in the mean time thanks for reading and the love <3 !
Last edited by a moderator:
Revenant1988
New Member
Re: ODST + Venom cross-over : ODSV
DragonCon Pics!
Life has been pretty busy for me as of late and I've admittedly been spending too much time playing Destiny when I should be in the garage
But better late than never!
Here is a small sample of my time at DragonCon 2014 (in no particular order):
Meeting up at the hotel around 8am
Here is a shot of the core group we had for the parade- there were a few more Halo guys and gals that filtered in a little after this
As we were waiting to go, there was a Samus next to our group. I love Samus. I really want to make that set of armor someday, but other things keep getting in the way. She looked great!
The parade organizer for our group handed us all some 405th decals to put on our armor. I wish I would have taken one more!
After the parade our group split into 2. The group I first went with had a mini photo shoot. It was hot and we were all in a bit of a rush to find somewhere to take the pics. This was a lot of fun though
Here are a few shots from the main photo shoot we did. It was a blast! I think there are still more pics to come of this from the photographer, but I don't have them yet.
All ODSTs
Someone made some methane, and it wasn't a grunt....
One of many goofy shots we took
I got to hold one of the famous Sean Bradley energy swords!
And then I got to take a picture with him!
Some of you may know this guys from impact props
Also snagged a pic with Justinian!
Once the shoot was done I had to take a break and get out of costume. Once back onto the floor, I ran into Halo-Kitty!
But that didn't last long and I had to get back into costume
I even ran into Spider-Man, he's an OK guy, but we still want to eat his brains! You're lucky I was on vacation, Parker!
Spider-Grunt also saw some action and was well received, though the humidity made his costume start to fall off.
After that I went out for the night for more pictures. The hooters girls were fans
Some of the lights from the mall really made these some of the best pics of me for the weekend. These two are my favorite and have been popping up around the internet.
Overall, I had a blast meeting everyone and being in the parade was a really unique experience. Kids loved it, lots of people wanted pictures with "Venom Master Chief" and I was just so happy this costume was well received. Meeting some of my idols like Sean and Justin was also a highlight, as well as the pacific 405th guys
Thanks for reading and staying with this build. Carnage is being worked on as I write this. I'll post more of him when I have something to show, soon....
DragonCon Pics!
Life has been pretty busy for me as of late and I've admittedly been spending too much time playing Destiny when I should be in the garage
But better late than never!
Here is a small sample of my time at DragonCon 2014 (in no particular order):
Meeting up at the hotel around 8am
Here is a shot of the core group we had for the parade- there were a few more Halo guys and gals that filtered in a little after this
As we were waiting to go, there was a Samus next to our group. I love Samus. I really want to make that set of armor someday, but other things keep getting in the way. She looked great!
The parade organizer for our group handed us all some 405th decals to put on our armor. I wish I would have taken one more!
After the parade our group split into 2. The group I first went with had a mini photo shoot. It was hot and we were all in a bit of a rush to find somewhere to take the pics. This was a lot of fun though
Here are a few shots from the main photo shoot we did. It was a blast! I think there are still more pics to come of this from the photographer, but I don't have them yet.
All ODSTs
Someone made some methane, and it wasn't a grunt....
One of many goofy shots we took
I got to hold one of the famous Sean Bradley energy swords!
And then I got to take a picture with him!
Some of you may know this guys from impact props
Also snagged a pic with Justinian!
Once the shoot was done I had to take a break and get out of costume. Once back onto the floor, I ran into Halo-Kitty!
But that didn't last long and I had to get back into costume
I even ran into Spider-Man, he's an OK guy, but we still want to eat his brains! You're lucky I was on vacation, Parker!
Spider-Grunt also saw some action and was well received, though the humidity made his costume start to fall off.
After that I went out for the night for more pictures. The hooters girls were fans
Some of the lights from the mall really made these some of the best pics of me for the weekend. These two are my favorite and have been popping up around the internet.
Overall, I had a blast meeting everyone and being in the parade was a really unique experience. Kids loved it, lots of people wanted pictures with "Venom Master Chief" and I was just so happy this costume was well received. Meeting some of my idols like Sean and Justin was also a highlight, as well as the pacific 405th guys
Thanks for reading and staying with this build. Carnage is being worked on as I write this. I'll post more of him when I have something to show, soon....
Last edited by a moderator:
Revenant1988
New Member
Re: ODST + Venom cross-over : ODSV
I've not shared any updates in a while, but that doesn't mean I've not been working on anything.
As mentioned earlier, I picked up a "seconds" ODST kit from the talented Sean Bradley. What "seconds" means in this case is that this kit was one of his 'B' pulls, as in most of the pieces had flaws that would need lots of work before it could be made wearable. The average person would probably shy away from such a kit, but for someone like me who is still an amateur, this is a good opportunity to practice repair and finishing skills at a deeply discounted rate.
My advice to anyone reading is that if you see someone offer up a sub-par pull (it has flaws, needs extra work) for cheap, consider getting it! If you're willing to put in the work, you can make something really cool our of what most others would consider unusable.
So like I said, this is the suit I'm doing up just like I did the Venom suit, but as Carange.
I've been working on this since mid-September, and I need to have it done in time for Ohio Wizard World which coincidentally falls on Halloween weekend. So compared to the Venom build I did over a year, this is a speed build. So far the biggest thing that ate my time was grinding and filling all the flaws from the B-kit. I didn't bother to take any pictures of them, as it's pretty standard sanding and filling type stuff.
Once I had all the pieces fixed on the outside, it was time to reinforce the inside.
To do this, I used some of the left over smooth-cast 320 from the Venom build. It's a very easy process.
* take blade, make cross hatches on the inside of the piece.
*take 80 grit sand paper and scuff up the inside of the piece.
*wipe piece clean with rubbing alcohol and cloth.
^Doing this promotes the adhesion of the resin to the shells. ^
The edges were taped off, and then resin was mixed about a dixie cup at a time and sloshed around.
I added some pigment to the inside to help identify what pieces-go-where when putting on the suit. I did 'red*' for right, blue for left. The center pieces I just used whatever pigments I had left.
(*I added a butt-load of red pigment and STILL most of the pieces cured pink. Go figure.)
After letting it sit and cure for a few days, I removed the tape, trimmed off any excess and spillage, and then began drilling and cutting out the various attachment locations. Then I lightly sanded the outsides and wiped with more alcohol so I could prime the pieces. After a long afternoon, here's what they looked liked.
You may have noticed the helmet in the back- I just installed a spare silver visor I had from the last kit. I think I'm going to try the mouth in that color instead of red, as it might be too over powering with not enough contrast. I mean, look how RED the armor is now!
So shiny!
How did I get that finish? After the primer had cured, I came back to it a few days later and wet-sanded each piece with 1000 grit paper, and then let that sit one more day. I came back to it, and wiped each piece down with alcohol (it really works wonders) and then gave each several coats of Krylon Cherry Red Gloss. My crappy cell phone doesn't do it justice, but it really looks like each piece was dipped in glaze or blood....creepy!
I just finished that yesterday, so the pieces are still hanging and drying. I like to give it a day or two before I add more. Next I'll be adding some red highlights and then going about the black details. Saving the helmet for last, if I can.
Thanks for reading!
I've not shared any updates in a while, but that doesn't mean I've not been working on anything.
As mentioned earlier, I picked up a "seconds" ODST kit from the talented Sean Bradley. What "seconds" means in this case is that this kit was one of his 'B' pulls, as in most of the pieces had flaws that would need lots of work before it could be made wearable. The average person would probably shy away from such a kit, but for someone like me who is still an amateur, this is a good opportunity to practice repair and finishing skills at a deeply discounted rate.
My advice to anyone reading is that if you see someone offer up a sub-par pull (it has flaws, needs extra work) for cheap, consider getting it! If you're willing to put in the work, you can make something really cool our of what most others would consider unusable.
So like I said, this is the suit I'm doing up just like I did the Venom suit, but as Carange.
I've been working on this since mid-September, and I need to have it done in time for Ohio Wizard World which coincidentally falls on Halloween weekend. So compared to the Venom build I did over a year, this is a speed build. So far the biggest thing that ate my time was grinding and filling all the flaws from the B-kit. I didn't bother to take any pictures of them, as it's pretty standard sanding and filling type stuff.
Once I had all the pieces fixed on the outside, it was time to reinforce the inside.
To do this, I used some of the left over smooth-cast 320 from the Venom build. It's a very easy process.
* take blade, make cross hatches on the inside of the piece.
*take 80 grit sand paper and scuff up the inside of the piece.
*wipe piece clean with rubbing alcohol and cloth.
^Doing this promotes the adhesion of the resin to the shells. ^
The edges were taped off, and then resin was mixed about a dixie cup at a time and sloshed around.
I added some pigment to the inside to help identify what pieces-go-where when putting on the suit. I did 'red*' for right, blue for left. The center pieces I just used whatever pigments I had left.
(*I added a butt-load of red pigment and STILL most of the pieces cured pink. Go figure.)
After letting it sit and cure for a few days, I removed the tape, trimmed off any excess and spillage, and then began drilling and cutting out the various attachment locations. Then I lightly sanded the outsides and wiped with more alcohol so I could prime the pieces. After a long afternoon, here's what they looked liked.
You may have noticed the helmet in the back- I just installed a spare silver visor I had from the last kit. I think I'm going to try the mouth in that color instead of red, as it might be too over powering with not enough contrast. I mean, look how RED the armor is now!
So shiny!
How did I get that finish? After the primer had cured, I came back to it a few days later and wet-sanded each piece with 1000 grit paper, and then let that sit one more day. I came back to it, and wiped each piece down with alcohol (it really works wonders) and then gave each several coats of Krylon Cherry Red Gloss. My crappy cell phone doesn't do it justice, but it really looks like each piece was dipped in glaze or blood....creepy!
I just finished that yesterday, so the pieces are still hanging and drying. I like to give it a day or two before I add more. Next I'll be adding some red highlights and then going about the black details. Saving the helmet for last, if I can.
Thanks for reading!
Last edited by a moderator:
Il Princerino
Sr Member
Re: ODST + Venom cross-over : ODSV
this is sick dude
this is sick dude
Athanasios
Active Member
Re: ODST + Venom cross-over : ODSV
Looks awesome, man!
Looks awesome, man!
Revenant1988
New Member
Belated Update time!
First, thanks for the kind words everyone! I'm happy that these builds have been so well received
I've neglected this thread for awhile and to anyone following it, I'm sorry! Things started getting down to the wire for the build and I wasn't able to keep up with regular updates. Now that things have settled down, I'm happy to report that the suit was completed and Ohio Wizard World was a success! I've finally got everything uploaded, so hold on to yer butts while I link all the things
Maximum Carnage!
Looks like I last left off at the base coat stage. There might some overlap in these descriptions, but here goes:
My cell phone camera doesn't do it justice, but you should be able to see a slight marbling or camo effect with the red here. The base layer is Krylon Cherry red, and then accented with Krylon Banner red.
The helmet I got was already primed by Sean, which saved me a lot of time. I taped of the visor area so there wouldn't be paint on the inside. I did this because the paint would smell, and needed to put this thing on my head a week. Can't take that chance.
One the base layers of red were done, I wet sanded up to 3000 grit to keep that 'wet' look. I then taped off the details I wanted to accent with a metallic steel spray paint.
Here is a forearm during the detail phase- doesn't look like much until the plastic and tape is removed.
More taping, more spraying, more details. The steel paint is by duplicolor, but I forget the exact color.
ODST DeadPool? ODSDP? wat?
Here are the pieces without the masking tape. My first thought when I removed it all was "I could just stop here, and make it a Dead Pool suit" but that quickly passed. I need Carnage!
Here is a close up of the details. Patience when masking really makes a difference!
The shoulder pads\straps
This part was my least favorite on the build for Venom, and that didn't change for Carnage. The straps themselves are made out of EVA foam mats, cut to size.
Where it gets less fun is that I decided to wrap them in vinyl, to give them a more leathery look. That's not too bad in itself, but then I had to hand sew a nylon strap down the length of each side. Those straps are what connects the back to the chest.
These parts themselves took me several hours to complete, but I could only work on them in small bursts.
The way they look at the end is what makes it worth it.
A lot of the ODST parts overlap (like a real suit of armor would) in places, and that can make the pieces bonk and clang together. While I may sound like a squeaky tin-man when I walk, the real problem is that the parts rubbing on each other dulls and then scratches the paint finish.
To reduce this, I added more EVA padding and vinyl where the parts would rub. This protects the finish and also makes it quieter when I walk. You can see an example of that padding at the bottom of this hip piece, before I glued the vinyl on.
These are just basic full fingered paintball gloves that I painted red to match the suit- these are very common for Halo cosplays because they are cheap and look fairly close to the game. Taping these off was a pain, but the end result was worth it. The paint adheres well to the plastic on the glove, but once clear coated it gets tacky for some reason and I don't know why. It must be leaking some chemical the paint ,interfering with them.
They get less sticky over time, but it very inconvenient.
Belt buckle and crotch guard
The majority of the ODST suit is supported by wearing a thick web or pistol belt. Pieces like the hips, butt, crotch and thighs all hang from this belt- they way they do that is by simple parachute buckles and nylon strapping.
It's a little loose to make it easy to snap on and off for donning\doffing the suit.
Torso
Here you can see where the shoulder straps are riveted to the back plate. The back plate itself is made up of 3 pieces, an upper and lower back, and a front collar in the front that is detachable via velcro tabs.
(You're seeing the inside of the back piece here, where no paint is applied.)
- continued in next post -
- - - Updated - - -
More Carnage!
Here are the rest of my build pics
The side connections
The back plate has two.... prongs that come out and hug you when you wear it. You have to add more straps here to keep the back secured to your body. I built this kit (and the venom kit for that matter) to be wearable by my friends, so the strapping needs to be adjustable.
One cool thing I found was that if I did the strapping in a certain way, I only had to sew one end and friction would take care of the other end when wearing it, so I could adjust the strap to fit someone with a bigger waist, or remove it altogether if I wanted.
Here is 1 of 2 straps setup. The buckle you see here is where the chest piece would meet the sides. The other half of the buckle is riveted to the chest.
As I started getting all the pieces wearable, it became time to acutally WEAR them so my fiance could being painting the black details.
I'm pretty good at symmetry and a more machined look, and one thing I really struggle with is free-flowing and more organic forms. You'd think painting a bunch of black squiggly lines would be simple, well, if your a perfectionist, it's hell! It's akin to trying to draw something on paper, making two lines, and then crumpling up the paper and trying again haha.
SO, I enlisted my Fiance to assist since she does the free-flow stuff way better than me. She did an AWESOME job! First time we've ever worked on a project together, we might have to do it again
Boot caps, no gloss, with gloss
Here are the toe caps that slip over the boots.
The one on the left is without a clear coat, the one of the right is with a clear coat.
Normally in Halo armor, people tend to use the matte clear coat as glossy can make it look too much like plastic or a giant toy. In my case, I went with gloss because it makes it look WET, like I envision the symbiotes to look.
To make it look extra wet, make sure you prep your pieces with as high a sand paper\sponge as you can! It makes a difference!
Crazy eyes
On Venom, I did so many damn eye prototypes before I decided on one. With Carnage, I somehow hit what I wanted on the first try. Go figure.
What I did is draw out one eye to size, then cut the paper template out and use it to cut out a craft foam template that can be flexed over the physical helmet, to trace out the eye.
For Carnage's eyes, I went a little bigger, a little rounder than Venom's eyes.
Here's a pic of the Stencil I made to paint the name on the chest plate.
It takes a few tries to get the size and spacing right, and then I take the card stock and lay a piece of painters tape over it, then cut the letters out with an x-acto knife.
Patience here counts. The details are very small.
Once cut out, I then tape it over the chest where I want it, and hit it with spray paint.
By this point the base red coat had dried. I then taped off the details I wanted to preserve red (that would be where you see the blue tape) and then I taped off the crown where I wanted the eyes.
Once taped, I traced out the eyes with the template I made, and then very carefully cut out the eye with my x-acto blade. I had to press hard enough to cut the tape, but not cut into the paint if I could help it.
Everything else was masked off, and then I lightly sanded the negative space of the eyes, wiped it clean with rubbing alcohol (to promote better adhesion) and then sprayed they white on.
With the paint dry, and the tape removed, they eyes came out fantastic. I think I nailed that creepy look I was aiming for.
I also had the teeth finalized by this point. To make them, I cut them out of craft foam in various sizes and then glued them on the visor how I wanted them.
They don't really interfere with visibility at all, and look different enough from my Venom suit that it doesn't come off as a copy.
The ODST visor also makes it look like he's smiling, which adds to the creep-o factor
Here is the chest with the black details and name painted on.
Here are the arms with all details and clear coat.
I really like the back details here. My Fiance totally nailed how I wanted the lower back to look- By blacking out the recessed areas, it makes it look like some of the skeleton is showing.
Pretty neat!
Here is a closer look at Carnage's maw.
The silver visor is a nice contrast to the black teeth I did, and the pant job matches them perfectly.
Here is the helmet with the black details painted on and clear coated.
I don't really have words here. It came out exactly as I wanted.
Beautiful.
More helmet. Again, I don't have words.
Why can't this be in the game? C'mon 343.....
Here are the two helmets next to each other. I'm still planning to get a friend to wear one of the suits so I can take some real pictures with them.
Carnage and Venom.
From the front.
I love them.
I want more.
I have a problem.
What color do you bleed?
This is one of my favorite details- in Halo, the ODSTs where their blood type on one of their shoulders. I thought it would be a nice touch on this cross-over if I put something special for Venom and Carnage's blood types.
Venom is V+ (venom positive)
Carnage is C! (carnage....EXCLAMATION AHHHH)
Here are all the parts laid out on my work tables, read to be put on.
Go time.
Here's me putting the suit on for the first time. I learned a lot from my Venom build, so I made some tweaks to the Carnage suit and it fits me way better.
-continued in one more post-
- - - Updated - - -
Moar Carnage!
Complete!
After a lot of sanding, painting, riveting, padding and sewing, it was all ready. It came out perfectly!
Slice n Dice!
When I decided to work on the Carnage build, I decided early on that I wanted his weapon to be a Covenant Energy sword.
Luckily for me, Sean had one waiting for me. With the help of one of our friends (nameless, to protect privacy) he wired up some custom electronics for me that make the sword pulse like it does in the game, AND it changes colors.
On command.
When I want.
Because reasons.
Anyway, in the comics, Carnage is able to manipulate his body to make weapons out of his appendages, like axes or hammers.
I thought a red energy sword would be a nice analogue to that, the Halo style if you will.
Convention pictures
Here are some of my favorite pics from the convention. Lots of people knew exactly what I was right away, which made me really happy! I didn't see any other Halo folk there though.....where you at, 405th???
The artist of this booth was kind enough to let me get a picture in front of his Carnage painting
These kids, these kids were so happy to see me and I was happy to take as many pictures as they wanted.
Not pictured: Dad shoving kids out of way to get HIS picture haha
Am I official now?
When does the money start showing up?
Saw these at a booth and had to buy them I saw a set a dragon*con and didn't get them, but I did this time!
A t-shirt booth actually had some pretty good stuff of characters I like, so I jumped on these. Also got some decals of other things I like for my armor cases.
LadyPool wanted a picture. Who am I to say no?
(Side note: There were like 50 DeadPools at this convention. All trying to out pool each other. I just....can't....why....bleh)
The Fett man!
Surprisingly I only say ONE at this convention.
That's all for now. While there I met a professional photographer and he snapped several photos of me and I'll be sure to share them here when he posts them. I had a great time with this build and can't wait to do a shoot with Both Venom AND Carnage!
Special thanks to Sean Bradley for the awesome kit and Sword commission, a special person for the sword electronics (not named for privacy) and my fiance for co-painting it with me.
THANK YOU, for reading and the kind words
First, thanks for the kind words everyone! I'm happy that these builds have been so well received
I've neglected this thread for awhile and to anyone following it, I'm sorry! Things started getting down to the wire for the build and I wasn't able to keep up with regular updates. Now that things have settled down, I'm happy to report that the suit was completed and Ohio Wizard World was a success! I've finally got everything uploaded, so hold on to yer butts while I link all the things
Maximum Carnage!
Looks like I last left off at the base coat stage. There might some overlap in these descriptions, but here goes:
My cell phone camera doesn't do it justice, but you should be able to see a slight marbling or camo effect with the red here. The base layer is Krylon Cherry red, and then accented with Krylon Banner red.
The helmet I got was already primed by Sean, which saved me a lot of time. I taped of the visor area so there wouldn't be paint on the inside. I did this because the paint would smell, and needed to put this thing on my head a week. Can't take that chance.
One the base layers of red were done, I wet sanded up to 3000 grit to keep that 'wet' look. I then taped off the details I wanted to accent with a metallic steel spray paint.
Here is a forearm during the detail phase- doesn't look like much until the plastic and tape is removed.
More taping, more spraying, more details. The steel paint is by duplicolor, but I forget the exact color.
ODST DeadPool? ODSDP? wat?
Here are the pieces without the masking tape. My first thought when I removed it all was "I could just stop here, and make it a Dead Pool suit" but that quickly passed. I need Carnage!
Here is a close up of the details. Patience when masking really makes a difference!
The shoulder pads\straps
This part was my least favorite on the build for Venom, and that didn't change for Carnage. The straps themselves are made out of EVA foam mats, cut to size.
Where it gets less fun is that I decided to wrap them in vinyl, to give them a more leathery look. That's not too bad in itself, but then I had to hand sew a nylon strap down the length of each side. Those straps are what connects the back to the chest.
These parts themselves took me several hours to complete, but I could only work on them in small bursts.
The way they look at the end is what makes it worth it.
A lot of the ODST parts overlap (like a real suit of armor would) in places, and that can make the pieces bonk and clang together. While I may sound like a squeaky tin-man when I walk, the real problem is that the parts rubbing on each other dulls and then scratches the paint finish.
To reduce this, I added more EVA padding and vinyl where the parts would rub. This protects the finish and also makes it quieter when I walk. You can see an example of that padding at the bottom of this hip piece, before I glued the vinyl on.
These are just basic full fingered paintball gloves that I painted red to match the suit- these are very common for Halo cosplays because they are cheap and look fairly close to the game. Taping these off was a pain, but the end result was worth it. The paint adheres well to the plastic on the glove, but once clear coated it gets tacky for some reason and I don't know why. It must be leaking some chemical the paint ,interfering with them.
They get less sticky over time, but it very inconvenient.
Belt buckle and crotch guard
The majority of the ODST suit is supported by wearing a thick web or pistol belt. Pieces like the hips, butt, crotch and thighs all hang from this belt- they way they do that is by simple parachute buckles and nylon strapping.
It's a little loose to make it easy to snap on and off for donning\doffing the suit.
Torso
Here you can see where the shoulder straps are riveted to the back plate. The back plate itself is made up of 3 pieces, an upper and lower back, and a front collar in the front that is detachable via velcro tabs.
(You're seeing the inside of the back piece here, where no paint is applied.)
- continued in next post -
- - - Updated - - -
More Carnage!
Here are the rest of my build pics
The side connections
The back plate has two.... prongs that come out and hug you when you wear it. You have to add more straps here to keep the back secured to your body. I built this kit (and the venom kit for that matter) to be wearable by my friends, so the strapping needs to be adjustable.
One cool thing I found was that if I did the strapping in a certain way, I only had to sew one end and friction would take care of the other end when wearing it, so I could adjust the strap to fit someone with a bigger waist, or remove it altogether if I wanted.
Here is 1 of 2 straps setup. The buckle you see here is where the chest piece would meet the sides. The other half of the buckle is riveted to the chest.
As I started getting all the pieces wearable, it became time to acutally WEAR them so my fiance could being painting the black details.
I'm pretty good at symmetry and a more machined look, and one thing I really struggle with is free-flowing and more organic forms. You'd think painting a bunch of black squiggly lines would be simple, well, if your a perfectionist, it's hell! It's akin to trying to draw something on paper, making two lines, and then crumpling up the paper and trying again haha.
SO, I enlisted my Fiance to assist since she does the free-flow stuff way better than me. She did an AWESOME job! First time we've ever worked on a project together, we might have to do it again
Boot caps, no gloss, with gloss
Here are the toe caps that slip over the boots.
The one on the left is without a clear coat, the one of the right is with a clear coat.
Normally in Halo armor, people tend to use the matte clear coat as glossy can make it look too much like plastic or a giant toy. In my case, I went with gloss because it makes it look WET, like I envision the symbiotes to look.
To make it look extra wet, make sure you prep your pieces with as high a sand paper\sponge as you can! It makes a difference!
Crazy eyes
On Venom, I did so many damn eye prototypes before I decided on one. With Carnage, I somehow hit what I wanted on the first try. Go figure.
What I did is draw out one eye to size, then cut the paper template out and use it to cut out a craft foam template that can be flexed over the physical helmet, to trace out the eye.
For Carnage's eyes, I went a little bigger, a little rounder than Venom's eyes.
Here's a pic of the Stencil I made to paint the name on the chest plate.
It takes a few tries to get the size and spacing right, and then I take the card stock and lay a piece of painters tape over it, then cut the letters out with an x-acto knife.
Patience here counts. The details are very small.
Once cut out, I then tape it over the chest where I want it, and hit it with spray paint.
By this point the base red coat had dried. I then taped off the details I wanted to preserve red (that would be where you see the blue tape) and then I taped off the crown where I wanted the eyes.
Once taped, I traced out the eyes with the template I made, and then very carefully cut out the eye with my x-acto blade. I had to press hard enough to cut the tape, but not cut into the paint if I could help it.
Everything else was masked off, and then I lightly sanded the negative space of the eyes, wiped it clean with rubbing alcohol (to promote better adhesion) and then sprayed they white on.
With the paint dry, and the tape removed, they eyes came out fantastic. I think I nailed that creepy look I was aiming for.
I also had the teeth finalized by this point. To make them, I cut them out of craft foam in various sizes and then glued them on the visor how I wanted them.
They don't really interfere with visibility at all, and look different enough from my Venom suit that it doesn't come off as a copy.
The ODST visor also makes it look like he's smiling, which adds to the creep-o factor
Here is the chest with the black details and name painted on.
Here are the arms with all details and clear coat.
I really like the back details here. My Fiance totally nailed how I wanted the lower back to look- By blacking out the recessed areas, it makes it look like some of the skeleton is showing.
Pretty neat!
Here is a closer look at Carnage's maw.
The silver visor is a nice contrast to the black teeth I did, and the pant job matches them perfectly.
Here is the helmet with the black details painted on and clear coated.
I don't really have words here. It came out exactly as I wanted.
Beautiful.
More helmet. Again, I don't have words.
Why can't this be in the game? C'mon 343.....
Here are the two helmets next to each other. I'm still planning to get a friend to wear one of the suits so I can take some real pictures with them.
Carnage and Venom.
From the front.
I love them.
I want more.
I have a problem.
What color do you bleed?
This is one of my favorite details- in Halo, the ODSTs where their blood type on one of their shoulders. I thought it would be a nice touch on this cross-over if I put something special for Venom and Carnage's blood types.
Venom is V+ (venom positive)
Carnage is C! (carnage....EXCLAMATION AHHHH)
Here are all the parts laid out on my work tables, read to be put on.
Go time.
Here's me putting the suit on for the first time. I learned a lot from my Venom build, so I made some tweaks to the Carnage suit and it fits me way better.
-continued in one more post-
- - - Updated - - -
Moar Carnage!
Complete!
After a lot of sanding, painting, riveting, padding and sewing, it was all ready. It came out perfectly!
Slice n Dice!
When I decided to work on the Carnage build, I decided early on that I wanted his weapon to be a Covenant Energy sword.
Luckily for me, Sean had one waiting for me. With the help of one of our friends (nameless, to protect privacy) he wired up some custom electronics for me that make the sword pulse like it does in the game, AND it changes colors.
On command.
When I want.
Because reasons.
Anyway, in the comics, Carnage is able to manipulate his body to make weapons out of his appendages, like axes or hammers.
I thought a red energy sword would be a nice analogue to that, the Halo style if you will.
Convention pictures
Here are some of my favorite pics from the convention. Lots of people knew exactly what I was right away, which made me really happy! I didn't see any other Halo folk there though.....where you at, 405th???
The artist of this booth was kind enough to let me get a picture in front of his Carnage painting
These kids, these kids were so happy to see me and I was happy to take as many pictures as they wanted.
Not pictured: Dad shoving kids out of way to get HIS picture haha
Am I official now?
When does the money start showing up?
Saw these at a booth and had to buy them I saw a set a dragon*con and didn't get them, but I did this time!
A t-shirt booth actually had some pretty good stuff of characters I like, so I jumped on these. Also got some decals of other things I like for my armor cases.
LadyPool wanted a picture. Who am I to say no?
(Side note: There were like 50 DeadPools at this convention. All trying to out pool each other. I just....can't....why....bleh)
The Fett man!
Surprisingly I only say ONE at this convention.
That's all for now. While there I met a professional photographer and he snapped several photos of me and I'll be sure to share them here when he posts them. I had a great time with this build and can't wait to do a shoot with Both Venom AND Carnage!
Special thanks to Sean Bradley for the awesome kit and Sword commission, a special person for the sword electronics (not named for privacy) and my fiance for co-painting it with me.
THANK YOU, for reading and the kind words
Last edited by a moderator:
S1NGULAR1TY
New Member
Where did you get the pieces for these suits! They're really high quality.
